


Sorrow

by KZDipped



Category: Eddsworld
Genre: Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Transformation, all that fun stuff, the monsters brawl for a bit, tom is surprisingly rational, tord is unsurprisingly a jerk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 08:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12791160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KZDipped/pseuds/KZDipped
Summary: Tom has been imprisoned in Tord's base for too long, long enough to come to terms with the experimentation already performed on him.  Tord brings in a new experiment one day, someone almost unrecognizable; how will Tom react to this addition?





	Sorrow

**Author's Note:**

> This was a very impromptu idea, but I think it's enjoyable nonetheless! Let me know what you think!

The cell, as always, was dark. Tom was curled in a corner, partially shifted for the extra warmth and dozing peacefully. The last tatters of his hoodie and jeans weren’t doing much to save his body heat in this dungeon-like environment. His paws were rested on his tail, and his muzzle was tucked under both of these. He had given up fighting constantly, instead taking these quiet opportunities to rest for whenever his next chance for escape would come. Just like he had given up trying to hide these monster abilities. He had this curse, may as well use it to be comfortable.

  
A sudden crash from down the hall, coupled with an inhuman scream, stole Tom’s sleepy attention. He sat up, not moving towards the cell bars but listening closely. There was a lot of shouting, from what sounded like soldiers trying to communicate orders, and another monstrous roar. Quick footsteps sounded down the cement, and Tom watched as none other than his old enemy Tord appeared beyond his bars. “What are you doing?” He muttered, trying to appear uninterested.

  
Tord looked exhilarated, out of breath. “Ah Thomas, I’m sure you’ll be glad to see your old friend, won’t you? All the research we’ve completed with you has really come in handy. Try not to be too hard on him, he’s a bit disoriented!”

  
“What are you talking about?” Tom growled, but before he could say another word a great crashing of chains screeched through the corridor, and whatever the soldiers had been struggling with was pulled into view. It was an enormous creature, not quite as large as Tom’s full monster form but a good 10 feet if stood on its hind legs. It appeared to be quadruped though, from the way it maneuvered its body in an attempt to escape its captors. Its body was lizard-esque in style, grey spattered with bright green veins, with a long tail and flat head; the beast’s claws looked formidable, as did its many teeth. Curled horns mounted from its head, and just visible under their shadow were small floppy ears, totally out of place among the rest of the creature’s features.

  
The soldiers dragging the beast were all maintaining as much distance as they could, and with good reason; it was snapping mercilessly at anyone who could possibly be within reach. It was vicious, and quite frankly it made Tom’s hair stand on end even to just see it so close. The attendants were holding batons of some kind, Tom guessed electrically charged, and it was with these they were corralling the monster- right towards Tom’s cage.

  
Tom stood now, shouting at Tord, “Don’t you dare, don’t do this- I’m not here for you to play games with!”

  
“That was never my intention, you should know me better by now! I simply wanted to reunite you and-“

  
The cage door was thrown open, and the monster goaded inside; with a quick snap the chains fell off, and the door slammed shut. Tom was still preoccupied with Tord, keeping only half an eye on the creature now trapped with him. “Did you just say EDD?”

  
Tord laughed, and it was the only thing Tom heard before being body-slammed into the floor. He shouted, head spinning from the blow and his quickly shifting body. He couldn’t understand what was happening, his first instinct was to fight back; but his head was screaming no, if there’s even a possibility of this being-

  
His thoughts were cut short once more as razor claws cut into his arm. He screamed, at this point more of a roar, and threw the monster off of him. He heard a thump as it crashed into the opposite wall, and he scrambled up. He was nearly all the way shifted now, his horns scraping the ceiling as he tried to stand. A quick glance at the door showed him Tord and his soldiers had left, no doubt watching the action from the safety of a surveillance room.

  
A high screech sounded, and he was tackled from the side; the force actually knocked him off his feet, surprisingly. The last thing to do that had been a nuclear radiation blast. He pressed a large claw against the beast, pushing it off and away. He had barely done that then it circled around to his other side, attacking with its claws again. Whatever Tord had done, it certainly seemed to feel threatened by Tom’s presence.

  
Tom made a decision; he wasn’t going to fight it, not really. He would tire it out, if possible. He aimed a gentle blow at the creature’s shoulder, knocking it away once more. In doing this though, he learned very quickly that there was one more weapon he had to be aware of; its tail had wicked spikes near the end, something he had neglected to notice earlier and now paid the price for as it slammed into his face.

  
Luckily his eye was missed, and he managed to push the monster up against the wall, pinning it temporarily. If there was one advantage he had, it was that he still had size and weight on his side. He stared into its face, taking in the wide-eyed, blank gaze staring defiantly, terrified back at him. Now began a dangerous game of back and forth, the creature trying in any way it could to knock Tom to the floor and go for his neck or eyes or chest. Each time Tom managed to just barely deflect the blows, rerouting the monster to run into a wall or trip and fall.

  
The downside to tiring his opponent was that, of course, Tom also began to tire. It wasn’t as though he had had to exert this much energy in quite a long time, not to mention the full shift drained him quickly. As he turned once more, avoiding the tail’s barbs, he realized a moment too late that he had left his chest completely exposed to an attack from the front. In a sudden blaze of pain he felt claws rake down the exposed skin, tearing like paper. And of course, it was this extreme damage that triggered his de-shift. He growled in protest, at the game he was being thrown into, at the pain he was being forced to feel, and the hinting nudges at his mind that told him he was about to be killed by his best friend, while Tord watched and laughed.

  
The attack had not let up in the meantime, and it was all Tom could do to keep a claw wrapped around his throat and face to prevent any really lethal damage. Hopefully he could regenerate this damaged flesh before he was too human to survive the loss. With one last effort, he kicked back against the monster, letting him slam into the wall harder than before. There was a screech of indignance, then, surprisingly, silence.

  
Tom did not move to investigate, instead curling in on himself. He was definitely starting to shift back properly now, shrinking in size; his mind became fuzzy, as he tried to process the wounds he was still bleeding out of and the drastic change in physique once more. The one thought he managed to hold on to was to stay still; if the monster ( ~~Edd~~ , his mind kept prompting him to think, but he ignored it) thought he was dead, all the better for him. He could hear it again, pacing back and forth and growling softly. It was a strange sound, unsettling. Occasionally that fierce tail flicked into his blurry vision, only to disappear again half a second later.

  
Tom took a sudden chance, flipping what was left of his tail behind him; it had been dragging against his wounds as it shrunk, and burned like nothing else. Quiet fell once more, which should have been distressing certainly, but all Tom could do was let out a strained sigh as he let his eyes droop shut. At this point, he was just very tired. The wounds in his chest would heal, he was certain of that now, but the recovery may take longer than he had chance for. Besides, he wouldn’t be able to shift again, not so quickly.

  
A sudden pressure to his front made him groan in pain; his eyes flew open, taking in the sight of a substantially smaller monster now pressed against him. It was curled up as though seeking comfort, its face hidden away. Tom guessed he had worn him out more than he thought. Perhaps that last slam backwards had knocked some sense into it. It nuzzled into his chest, against the bits of blue fabric just starting to reappear from under purple scales; it was all Tom could do not to cry, if he made any expression of pain now it could spook the barely calm lizard.

  
Tom realized he must have passed out when he blinked open his eyes again to find he had shifted nearly entirely back. Just slight claws and horns, as per usual. He glanced down at the monster, and this time he really did sob. It had shrunk down too, and although it still had more monstrous features sinking away, he could clearly see the iconic tufts of brown hair peaking out from around the shrinking horns, and a dirty green hoodie covering small scaled arms. What had Tord done?

  
Trying to remember the first time he had shifted, Tom figured Edd would be extremely confused when he woke up, he probably wouldn’t remember any of it. That would make for some tough explaining later, but for the meantime he could at least make his friend comfortable. Pulling himself up, ignoring the complaint of literally every piece of his body, Tom dragged himself and his friend to the nearest wall, sitting down against it and holding Edd up against him. There was very little left to Edd’s shift, just horns and tail really; it had always been easiest to shift back in those first days, but then again, there was also very little control over one’s form. Tom settled back against the concrete, doing his best to get comfortable. If he could doze a little while he waited, all the better.

  
As it turned out, he didn’t have long to wait; Edd mumbled slightly in his sleep, finally jostling himself (and to a lesser extent Tom) awake. “Tom?” Edd’s voice was so small, so quiet as opposed to the great beast he had been less than an hour before. Tom didn’t reply, just pulled him closer and tried to cradle his head away from the stone wall. Edd shifted with the coaxed movement, whining a little. No doubt he was sore from the shift, Tom assumed it was his first. “Tom I had a really horrible dream, where are we?”

  
“It’s okay, just rest.” Tom mumbled, setting his face on Edd’s fluffy hair.

  
Edd nodded softly, but suddenly stiffened. His eyes had caught on Tom’s chest, where deep purple lines still scored where the deepest wounds had been. “O-oh no, Tom, ahh…” He raised a hand as though to touch the scars, but shuddered away.

  
Tom could feel his friend’s breathing pick up, feel his shaking devolve into sobs. “Shhhh. Edd, it’s okay. Talk to me.” He sat up straighter, dragging his taller friend with him, and trying his best to will away any remaining monstrous features. He really did not want to force Edd into another shift, and this panic would do exactly that.

  
“It did happen, I’m so sorry, I didn’t, I didn’t mean to _hurt_ you, I didn’t know!” Edd’s breathing hitched, and Tom could see very slight horns beginning to emerge from his forehead again. He moaned, grabbing his head in pain.

  
“It’s fine Edd, I’m fine. Calm down, it will hurt less if you do.”

  
“I thought I was fighting a-a monster, I don’t understand… everything was so blurry and I had claws, why did I have claws?” He looked up with shining eyes to Tom’s own dark ones, then reached a trembling hand up to Tom’s head. “Tom what…”

  
Tom could suddenly feel Edd’s fingers running over a nubby horn still protruding from his spiky hair. He hadn’t been able to suppress all of his monstrous features after all, not after so long allowing it to slide. Taking Edd’s hand off gently, he murmured, “I know this is all really scary and weird, but you have to trust me. It’s all going to be okay.” Edd appeared to be listening, so Tom continued, slowly and with about as much thought he could muster into how his words might be taken, “That did happen. You were fighting me, but that’s okay, because you weren’t in control and you didn’t know it was me.”

  
“I hurt you though-“

  
“And I’m healing up fast, the purple is good for me, okay?” Tom pulled back his tattered sweatshirt a little more, showing off the discoloured skin. “It means I’m going to be alright.”

  
Edd traced a gentle finger across one patch, mouth forming a gentle “o”. Tom was hoping he was starting to piece this together on his own, he was starting to feel a little overwhelmed himself. “Th’ last thing I remember is Tord, he was saying something so… I don’t know.” He gripped his hands tightly. “I was so mad at him, I don’t remember why exactly…”

  
At the mention of Tord’s name, Tom had to try so hard to hold himself back from shifting. He had been ignoring the fact that Edd was here, that Edd had been experimented on just as he had been, that Edd was a monster just like him- all because of Tord. His teeth gritted, and it took seeing a flash of fear across Edd’s face to pull him back. “ _This is Tord’s fault_. You remember being mad at him because he did this to you. To me.”

  
Edd opened his mouth, about to interject, but Tom continued, “Take a look around you. We’re being kept in a cage. I couldn’t get out on my own, but I promise you, we will get out together. Okay?”

  
An indeterminate feeling flew between the two, Edd still clutching his hands together as they trembled. But as he looked up at Tom, and saw his fierce determination, he nodded. “Okay.”


End file.
